Former UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen signs autograph during the spring UCLA football game at Drake Stadium on the campus of UCLA on Saturday, April 21, 2018 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

For one of the few times in his football career, Josh Rosen wasn’t winning. At UCLA, he struggled to recreate the championship-winning magic he found in high school. He got injured. He watched as others garnered accolades and attention that used to be lavished on him.

As he prepares to enter the NFL, the former UCLA quarterback is motivated to make his next step better than his last.

“I think he’s got a big chip on his shoulder,” his former offensive coordinator Chad Johnson said, “and he’s got something to prove that he isn’t some of these negative things people say he is.”

Rosen was QB1 at UCLA since he stepped on campus. Through the NFL draft process, he’s been picked apart from every angle and he’s no longer the golden boy among fellow quarterbacks Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield and Josh Allen.

But Rosen doesn’t need to win the draft Thursday in Dallas. He’s more focused on winning games on the field.

“In a couple years, when it’s all said and done, I’m confident that I’ll still be standing,” Rosen told NFL Network on Tuesday. “I think my game isn’t very flashy, but the test of time for the position of quarterback is how fast can you get the ball out of your hands to the right guy. And I think I do that better than everyone else.”

Of the top four quarterbacks in the draft — Rosen, Darnold, Allen and Mayfield — the Manhattan Beach native is the most likely to slide in the draft, according to NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah. It’s not for lack of talent. The 21-year-old just can’t shake his injury history.

“We’ll continue to hear people question his intangibles as a leader, but that’s far less of a concern than the fact that he missed half his sophomore year with a shoulder injury and suffered two concussions last season,” Jeremiah wrote last Monday.

The first three teams picking Thursday — the Browns, Giants and Jets — could be searching for a quarterback. Most draft projections have Darnold or Allen going to Cleveland. The Giants may skip a quarterback altogether to snag Penn State running back Saquon Barkley.

The Jets, however, seem set on a signal-caller after they traded four draft picks to move from No. 6 to No. 3. The trade was finalized only two days after personnel from all 32 teams visited UCLA to watch Rosen throw at his Pro Day. Jets offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates also coached with former UCLA offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch in 2010 with the Seattle Seahawks.

If Rosen falls past the top three, he could land at No. 5 with the Broncos, whose top quarterback option now is Case Keenum, who signed as a free agent. Denver general manager John Elway hobnobbed with Rosen personally during Pro Day.

After the top five teams in the draft, quarterbacks may have to wait until the 11th or 12th picks, which belong to the Dolphins and Bills, respectively.

If Rosen is still sweating through his custom-tailored suit in the draft’s green room outside the top 10, it won’t be the first time he’s been passed over, he said.

“I’ve always been the No. 2 guy,” Rosen told NFL Network’s Andrew Siciliano in a fiery response that drew attention on social media. “Coming out of high school, Ricky Town was the dude. He was going to ‘SC, I was going to UCLA. … After Ricky kinda faded away, Blake Barnett was the Elite 11 MVP.”

Barnett, from Corona Santiago High, won the marquee competition for high school quarterbacks in 2014 while Rosen finished 11th. Rosen went to UCLA and won the starting job immediately. Barnett, whose recruiting grade of 90 from ESPN outranked Rosen’s 86 coming out of high school, went to Alabama, redshirted his first year then lost the starting job after the first half of the season opener in 2016. He transferred to Arizona State after going through junior college and will now transfer again, the Arizona Republic reported Wednesday. He was slated to be the backup for the Sun Devils.

Town didn’t last more than two weeks at USC, where he was competing directly with Darnold. He transferred to Arkansas, bounced back to Ventura College and is now at Pitt. He has still not appeared in a Division I game.

As he waits for his name to be called Thursday, Rosen is not concerned when he gets drafted, but just where, as he hopes to find the right fit at the next level.

“I don’t want to sneak my way into a team,” Rosen told CBS Sports on Tuesday. “I really want to go to a team that thinks I’m going to be a good fit for their team. I want to go to a team that really thinks I’m going to be a 15-year veteran of that team.”

Thuc Nhi Nguyen has covered UCLA for the Southern California News Group since 2016. A proud Seattle native, she majored in journalism and mathematics at the University of Washington. She likes graphs, animated GIFs and superheroes.